When Beast of Reincarnation was announced, I was fairly confident it was not going to be for me. Obviously, any form of teaser trailer will be difficult to get a read on, but, and this is going to be crazy, I know, it was giving off some serious Monster Hunter vibes, and Monster Hunter was never my jam. The trailer was about a human character fighting big monsters. At least, that was my takeaway at the time. As nice as it looked, and I was probably always going to play it, it wasn’t until the Xbox Direct earlier this year that I did a double-take, then went all in on this thing. Now Beast of Reincarnation is all I really think about.
Game Freak makes Pokémon, but some form of a high-quality departure from their roots isn’t really shocking. Actually, the writing has been on the wall, given how often the Pokémon schedule had been disrupted in the past as the studio attempted to diversify from just being that monster-catching game. While I heard many people, even at the time of the announcement, point out they were shocked Game Freak could deliver graphics like that, especially given the appearance of Scarlet and Violet prior. Even this did nothing for me.
It’s that classic adage of don’t judge a book by its cover, which in gaming can go both ways. I had many a customer where I used to work tell me how excited they were for We Happy Few because it ‘looked like BioShock.’ Ironically, those were my only customers upset by the fact that the game was a survival roguelike, despite my trying to warn them. Personally, I try to give everything at least a fair shake, or at least let more information come out before I thoroughly check out. That was the case with Avowed, and the experience was enjoyed. As it turns out, not weighing experiences against each other leads to enjoying something for what it is, go figure.
I guess I was still marginally interested in seeing more of Beast of Reincarnation. I remember thinking that was the reason I was watching the Xbox Presents. As a news writer here at Pixelbyte, obviously, Fable was the big draw to cover the event, which we did, but still, THAT was the odd dark horse I wanted to get to know. Actually, come to think of it, Forza Horizon 6 got a first look during the Xbox Developer Direct as well, so that was two big titles I already had interest in that Beast of Reincarnation was pulling me away from.
In gaming, there is this balancing act about giving too much away before it is time. For film, this might lead to a tonal shift, a trailer making you think a tragedy is really a comedy. When you are deciding if you want to play a video game, though, this is as drastic as being a completely separate playstyle. An easy recent example of this in my life was Formula Legends, which had a quirky, cartoonish art style. This lured me into thinking I was signing up for an indie arcade racer; instead, I got an intense Formula 1 sim. Just the very action of committing to a game I had utterly wrong made me enjoy it less, and I had nobody to blame but myself.
For Beast of Reincarnation, the ace up the developers’ sleeves was to reveal that this was no mere action title, but an action and turn-based RPG combo. The deep dive spent a lot of the runtime discussing the fact that, beyond the real-time action swordplay, the protagonist Emma and her companion dog, Koo, can stop the continuous flow of combat for a more tactical precision approach to what they are doing. This is a pure turn-based system, mind you, but it’s a twist on the expectations in such a way that the game instantly became more enticing.
Not like the combat that had been showcased didn’t already look tight and satisfying. With Monster Hunter, though, you typically find yourself hunting bigger monsters with smaller ones showing up to annoy you. Since fighting a big enemy seemed pivotal, it wasn’t clear to me until that deep dive that the smaller robot enemies weren’t just there to prolong or annoy. I remembered there being a heavy counter that seemed to tear through them, so maybe this was supposed to be that with some Stellar Blade mixed in. I hesitate to call everything Automata-esque, but that feels like it’s quickly becoming a genre type that gets no recognition and is relevant here.
What Beast of Reincarnation really is is the exact type of game I love. This is what that first trailer was really missing for me. Larger enemies feel like events that you slowly build up to, with smaller enemies that can probably end you if you let them gang up on you. All the while exploring a world that is both haunting and beautiful, slowly decaying around you. I especially love when that type of game carves a nice slice of verticality into its world as well, which gives it a nice feeling of depth. All of which have been showcased and then some.
There are countless games this year that are going to hog the limelight, such as Grand Theft Auto VI if rumors stand true and the timing holds up. That being said, Beast of Reincarnation is shaping up to be something unique. Those are the types of games that hold my interest more than anything. Well, those and games I get angry at, like Code Vein II. When it was first announced, I was looking out for it cautiously optimistic. Now, though, that caution is gone, and Beast of Reincarnation is firmly in my top five most anticipated games this year. I cannot draw my sword when the game finally releases on August 4th.
Beast of Reincarnation will be available for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC. It will also be a day-one title with Xbox Game Pass.
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